


Snoke: A Star Wars Story

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Star Wars Rewrites — Backstory [24]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Backstory Rewrite, Bombings, Canon Rewrite, Child Abuse, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Gen, POV First Person, POV Snoke, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, War, snoke backstory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-12 00:06:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13535448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: For years, the story of Supreme Leader Snoke has been hidden from the galaxy. It’s only on the devastated planet of Milara that it is revealed to Snoke’s new apprentice, Kylo Ren.





	1. Prelude: Milara

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The two figures who walked the wastelands of the planet Milara were the only two thus far in the ruins of devastation. They were two figures — a figure in armor that would have called to mind the former Sith Lord Darth Revan, and a tall, bony figure, pale and almost skeleton-like, dressed in gold robes that fell to his feet. The latter figure looked around Milara, taking it in for the first time since he had left it for the Unknown Regions.

“Milara.” The figure, Snoke, spoke, his rumbling voice softer in that moment, almost wistful. “It’s been years since I set foot on her surface.”

The figure in armor, Kylo Ren, looked around. “Has it?”

“Yes. Ah.” Snoke crouched down, plucked a flower from the ground. He stood up, examining it with a sort of interest, his face softening a bit. “Life. Even in the wake of devastation, there can be pieces of beauty to be found, don’t you think?”

Kylo Ren tilted his head.

“It’s what the First Order is preserving. A better future. Balance. All this, all of it free from the restraints and corruption of the past.” Snoke sighed. “A pity the Resistance doesn’t see that, but logic is not their specialty, I am afraid.”

“Nor other things,” said Kylo Ren.

Snoke turned to look at his apprentice. “I suppose I might as well tell you everything,” he said. “Of all the beings I can tell, you are the best candidate, so that you may not repeat these mistakes in the future. So that we may not repeat these mistakes in the future. It began, as ever, with war...”


	2. Beyond the Fires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snoke begins his tale. It doesn’t have a happy beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

You’re wondering why I began with a war. It’s because it started, as ever, with war.

And you’re wondering why I began with my early years. After all, few beings want to hear about such things. But they are integral, I assure you. When I was born, I was born to a war-torn Milara, which was caught in a civil war between two factions: the Loyalists and the Progressivists. The Progressivists were led by the terrorist Venkar, who sought to reshape Milara in his image, even if it meant burning it down.

It was that world I was born into. Even from an early age, I knew, I simply knew, that we were far away from the Republic. They wouldn’t have bothered to help us. If it wasn’t the trivialities of the rich and powerful, they couldn’t be bothered.

***

_“They are indeed hypocrites,” Kylo Ren said._

_“To say the least.” Snoke’s voice was layered with disgust. “They squabble like tu’kata over raw meat, yet they barely bother to help those who need it most. And if that is what your mother seeks to preserve, I wonder what that says about her?”_

_“She always was a fool.”_

_“Your mother always sought to preserve corruption,” Snoke said. “Why else do you think she joined the Rebellion? To restore the Republic, of course. To restore disorder and corruption. Of course, at nineteen, she was brainwashed, and I doubt it might have been a stretch that she carried it into her older years. What is the phrase? Old habits die hard.” A beat. “It is fortunate, then, that you broke free of the brainwashing.”_

_“Yes.” Then, “What happened to you?”_

***

I ran, Kylo Ren.

I ran so very far.

When the bombs dropped, my family was killed, but not before they shouted for me to run. “Get out of the house, Aldric,” they said. “Save yourself.”

Yes, my name was Aldric. Names are far from important, though, I would say. Names are relics of the past that are unimportant to the future. No one remembers Dessel the miner or Alek the orphan, but they do remember Darth Bane and Darth Malak, do they not? You’ll get to understand the poor foolish stupid boy, and why I had to destroy him, soon enough.

I ran. I can remember the explosions of bombs going off behind me, and the smoke that stained the sky. Eventually, I reached the orphanage.

The orphanage was a cruel place, but for the moment, I thought I, being a child of five in human years, would be safe there. I believe all younglings believe that — after all, it is the job of those older than them to offer guidance and shelter.

I had no idea that my suffering, or should I say Aldric’s, had just begun.


	3. Living Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snoke’s first major secret is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: We’re about to get into some really triggering content. You have been warned. In terms of why I took the direction I did for Snoke, one thing I noticed in my research is that beings like Snoke come from usually abusive origins. I thought it was something worth exploring, what makes someone like Snoke who they are.

_“What happened to you?” Kylo Ren said._

_Snoke took a deep breath. “We’re about to enter territory that I doubt you’ve been to before,” he said. “I told you of Milara’s suffering, but nothing of what went on in the orphanage. And there is good reason for that. Such things...addressing when I was vulnerable is far from a desirable thing. I would not have stayed in the orphanage if I had a better place to go. And eventually, I found a better place to go.”_

_“Supreme Leader, I am sorry.”_

_“I do not say this for the sake of pity, Kylo Ren. I say it because of all the things you must understand — why we do what we do is most important. Of the utmost importance, for that matter.”_

_“I would never betray you.”_

_“I know you wouldn’t,” Snoke said. “You are loyal to the last, after all. But this is bigger than loyalty.” He took a deep breath. “Others would never have understood, truly, why I do what I do. Maz Kanata didn’t. Yoda didn’t. I can only hope you do.”_

_“Tell me.” Kylo said, and Snoke, feeling like he had been stabbed in the ribs, nodded._

***  
The orphanage was far from a happy place. There were those there who did the best they could to make it right, but others were sadists, plain and simple. And one of them took a special interest in me. Asha was her name, and she was my only abuser. When she was angry, that was accentuated even more.

***

  
_Snoke made a fist in that moment, and it was there that Kylo Ren’s head tilted. Looking at the burns from the plasma torch, a testament to the abuse that he had suffered within the orphanage._

_“This was what Asha gave me,” Snoke said, and even speaking, he could feel the old anger — the anger that he hadn’t been allowed to express as a youngling, but which bubbled up too prominently right now. “She was...not a kindly woman.”_

_“Obviously.” Kylo Ren’s voice was soft in that moment. “I am sorry. She should not have done that to you.”_

_“She is dead now. But I will get to that in time.”_

***

It would have been bad enough if she had hit and burned. But there were...other things she did. Things where when the body has endured the maximum amount of pain it can take, it shoves it aside. I did not recall these memories until I returned to Milara to free it. It is truly amazing how much the mind can find ways to forget when the body is brutalized beyond what it can bear.

Asha, you see...no, I am all right. As I was saying, Asha found...ways of torturing me as a child. She found candles, for example. Candles and vibroblades. She used her fingers, objects — and it was always at night when others could mistake the screams for help for Aldric talking in his sleep.

Yes, Kylo Ren, that...waste of skin violated me. I don’t remember everything she did, but I know that my body bears the residuals. Scars, sensations, plenty more. For six years I was raped and tortured again and again, and the orphanage did nothing.

***  
 _Kylo looked at him. “Where were the other workers while this vile woman was doing what she did?”_

_“I do not know,” Snoke said. “It’s remarkable how one can choose to turn a blind eye. I also remember, vividly, what she told me.” A pause. “She said that if I ever told a soul, even by accident, they would never find my corpse. And I believed her. Being the youngling I was, and knowing her sadism, I believed her.”_

_“I’m sorry,” Kylo said. “It never should have happened to you.”_

_“It is...unexpected you say that. I doubt anyone’s told me that before, though I never told a soul. I forgot. When your body’s subjected to violation and violence at a young age, you have to. And then there was the shame that came with it.”_

_“It was her fault, not yours.” Kylo paused. “You don’t have to tell me more if you don’t wish to, Supreme Leader.”_

_“I do,” Snoke said. “So you can understand.”_


End file.
